


Beach Episode

by keitaiijima



Series: Junior High Moments [8]
Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types, Battle Royale - Takami Koushun
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25039402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keitaiijima/pseuds/keitaiijima
Summary: Yukie and Shuya plan for their two groups to have a day at the beach together during the Summer holidays. Keita and Yuka end up challenging each other in different competitions for the prize of ice cream.Note: This is part of a non-linear series all set in the same universe but can also be definitely read independently.
Relationships: Iijima Keita/Nakagawa Yuka
Series: Junior High Moments [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2059632
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Beach Episode

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jolimelon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jolimelon/gifts).



> Obligatory beach episode. Nothing really happens but Keita has fun.

It was the middle of the Summer holidays and the hottest month of the year; August. As the last few days had been so insanely warm, Class Representative Yukie Utsumi had taken it upon herself to arrange a beach day with her group of friends. However, as the wheels in her head started turning, she had also seen the opportunity to spend some time with her crush, Shuya Nanahara, out of the classroom. They had always had a friendly tone with each other, ever since Middle School, so it did not feel too out of place for her to reach out to him and invite his group of friends along too. Her girlfriends were mostly all for the idea of the two groups spending time together (the exception as Haruka who was less than enthused, and Satomi, who simply did not care either way). Shuya had no trouble convincing his friends either.

“A beach day? With girls?!” Keita had asked, his mouth hanging open as he wiped the drool away from his lips. The others tried to not look _as_ openly desperate for the event, but Yoshitoki and Yutaka exchanged glances with each other, their eyes shining faintly. The idea of spending a day with their crushes (and in bathing suits, nonetheless), was enough for them to quickly agree too.  
“Won’t it be a little awkward?” Hiroki had asked quietly, scratching his nose softly. He was the only one who voiced any concern, and it was based only on his own awkwardness around girls. Or anyone he did not know too well.  
“Hey, you get a boner, just lay down on your stomach. You’ll be fine,” Shinji had teased him, causing Hiroki to blush deeply.  
So it was settled. The following weekend, the groups of the neutral boys and girls would come together for a nice, fun day at the beach.

The best beaches in Kagawa Prefecture was in Mitoyo, meaning the groups had to take the train from Takamatsu train station. It would be a little over an hour before they arrived, so they decided (well, Yukie decided) to leave quite early in the morning in order to get the most out of the day. Despite the fact that the girls came prepared with huge picnic baskets filled with food, drinks and games, as well as everyone carrying individual bags with towels, sunscreen, bathing suits and whatever else they needed, Keita still was the one carrying the biggest accessory. He had a huge inflatable flamingo that he was planning on floating on all day. Naturally, he had failed to think this through, and already inflated it before they even got on the first train.  
When meeting up with the girls, they all burst out laughing.  
“Wow. We might need to book this guy his own seat!” Yukie teased gently, petting the flamingo.  
Yutaka laughed too, as he gave Keita’s shoulder a pat. “I think they’re all jealous of your buddy here, Keita,” he said with a comforting wink.  
Yuka was beaming at them, patting her own shoulder-bag.  
“Well, _I’m not_ ,” she told them with a big grin. “I got my own floating unicorn packed and ready to go! But, you know, I figured I’d just blow him up at the _beach._ ”  
Keita shrugged. “I guess that’s one way to do it, too…” he said, pretending this idea was ridiculous, despite the truth being he had not considered that waiting would probably have been a better solution. Still, his flamingo made quite the conversation piece on the train, as many kids looked at it in awe and wanted to try sitting on it in the aisle. Despite his friends lightly teasing him for his travel companion, Keita felt a sense of pride when a four-year old burst into tears after being told he could not bring the flamingo home.  
_Sorry, loser! This is all mine!_ He thought cheerfully.

* * *

The beach was a little crowded as it was such a warm weekend, but Yukie quickly pointed to a spot where they could have some privacy. It was near the very end of the beach, right before the sand turned into a grass path.  
“Perfect! That’s our spot!” she exclaimed happily. “Now if we all-“  
“- Last one there has to volunteer to help Hayashida restock the equipment cabinet!” Keita cried out, pushing Yukie out of the way as he ran with his flamingo towards the spot.  
Yukie frowned. “I already do that…” she mumbled, slightly insulted, as Yuka sprinted after Keita, eager to be part of the race.  
Despite most of the girls being joint-losers of Keita’s imaginary race, they did not seem to take it too hard. They all began putting towels down, ready to soak up the sun and have something cool to drink. Yuka immediately got to work on getting her fancy unicorn inflated too.

“So, Iijima, who do you think will win? My unicorn princess or your pink bird?” Yuka asked playfully, as she had finally inflated her own floating animal.  
Keita laughed; for once, this was a challenge he was definitely up to.  
“Why don’t we do another race and find out? See those buoys out in the sea?” he said, pointing outwards. Yuka nodded eagerly.  
“Let’s go from that first one there, to the last one before the beach turns. Whoever wins…” Keita continued, pausing as he tried hard to think of a prize.  
“Whoever wins, gets the other’s animal!” Yuka suggested, filled with confidence in Corny’s skills. Keita stared at her in horror. He covered the flamingo’s non-existent ears.  
“This is my _baby_ , Nakagawa,” he said, insulted. “Anything but that!”  
Yuka looked at him, amused. “Okay. Loser buys ice cream later?”  
That sounded like a way better deal, and Keita nodded, now grinning again.  
“Heck yeah. Let’s do this!”  
  
As Keita and Yuka got ready to race, Shuya, Yukie and Haruka were lining up the sand, preparing for a match of beach volleyball.  
“Do we have to?” Izumi complained quietly to Chisato, pouting. “How are we supposed to relax on the beach if we have to do _sports_?”  
Chisato hushed her softly. “Come on, Izu. Yukie said she will convince the boys to play skins. That means Mimura-kun will take his shirt off. This is a _great_ day!”  
Izumi sighed, not too interested in any in the boys there, and decided to try her luck getting Noriko to join her in laying down to sunbathe instead.  
“Noriko, do you want to jus-“  
“- And Nanahara-kun will be shirtless too,” Noriko whispered, her cheeks flushed. Izumi sighed again; she had lost them.  
Noriko continued, a bit louder: “Too bad I just have no idea how to play…” she glanced nervously at Izumi and Chisato, embarrassed at the prospect of looking too stupid.  
She had been loud enough for Shuya to overhear, and with a grin, he walked a bit closer to them.  
“Hey, Nakagawa. If you want, I’ll give you a few pointers,” he said kindly, causing Noriko to light up.  
“R-Really?” she asked, oblivious to how Yukie and Yoshitoki were both staring at them with dismay.  
“Yeah, sure. Come on,” Shuya nodded, gesturing for her to get up and follow her, as he grabbed the ball.  
“We’ll do a practice round before the real game.”

“Do you think Mimura-kun would teach me, too?” Chisato whispered to Izumi. The girls looked over to see what Shinji was doing. It seemed like he was watching Keita and Yuka from behind his sunglasses, while whispering something. However, the girls could not make out what.  
In reality, what Shinji was muttering under his breath, was: “Please, push him in. It’ll be so hilarious if you push him in.”  
Izumi shrugged to Chisato. “He seems a little distracted right now,” she whispered back.

In the water, Keita was totally ready to kick some butt at this race. Yuka raised her thumb to him, and he raised his back.  
“Okay! So when I count to three-“ he began, but Yuka stuck her tongue out and started paddling on her unicorn. Keita cursed under his breath but laughed. _Fine, I won’t play fair either,_ he thought, as he quickly started paddling after her. He glanced towards land, trying to see if anyone was watching. He noticed Shinji was, and felt an odd sense of pride in this. Waving, he had to smile as Shinji waved back. Or did he flip him off? It was hard to tell with the sunlight blinding him. Some of the girls were watching too. Despite them cheering loudly for Yuka, Keita felt sure they were really just trying to make her feel better, knowing she had no chance against a machine like him. Filled with confidence, he was almost catching up to the girl.

As revenge for Yuka’s early start before, Keita stuck out his over-grown toenail against her unicorn, attempting to make a small tear to deflate it. Yuka gasped as she realized what he was doing.  
“Hey! Don’t you dare!” she laughed, using her own foot to kick his away. “Ow! Your gross nail is scratching me. Get off!”  
Keita chuckled, kicking back. The race was forgotten for a moment, despite only having a few feet left to the final buoy.  
With one especially powerful kick, Yuka managed to get Keita off of the flamingo and into the water. Splashing around and reaching for it to stay afloat, Keita suddenly realized something he had forgotten at the beginning of the race: he could not swim.  
_Oh no. Not like this!_ He thought, grabbing onto the flamingo for dear life.  
“Nakagawa! I’m gonna drown!” he whined, as Yuka laughed and made her way to the finish line.  
“No way I’ll let you drown now, Iijima. You owe me an ice cream!” she teased, waving to him, but making no effort to actually swim over and help him.

At the beach, the boys, other than Shuya who was still teaching Noriko the basics of volleyball, had joined Shinji. Yoshitoki frowned with light concern as he watched Keita struggle and whine in the water.  
“Should we help him?” he asked no one in particular. Shinji shrugged.  
“No. Let his survival instinct kick in. He’ll learn,” he said simply, sipping his Capri-sun from a straw but somehow still managing to make it look cool.  
Yoshitoki did not look too convinced, as Keita’s survival instincts seemed to keep telling him to try to climb back onto the flamingo; which, several times, just resulted in him rolling over and back down in a variation of different combinations, whilst Yuka laughed louder each time.  
After watching this suffering for a few moments, Hiroki could not take it anymore.  
“I’ll get him,” he sighed, diving into the water for the rescue mission. Shinji looked somewhat disappointed. As Hiroki dragged Keita back with him to the shore, Yuka following them on her unicorn as she did a victory dance with her arms, Haruka announced that the set-up for the volleyball game was ready.

Keita, forgetting about his almost-death almost instantly, was ready for a new chance to impress. Much like he forgot he could not swim, he also forgot that he was terrible at sports.  
“Nakagawa! Wanna make it all or nothing? If my team beats yours, you gotta get me _two_ ice creams?” he called out for her, with a huge grin and a wave.  
Yuka looked at him puzzled for a moment, before breaking out into a laugh.  
“You realize I have two actual volleyball players on my team, right? You don’t stand a chance!” she said, having complete faith in her friends as she threw one arm around Yukie’s shoulder, the other around Haruka’s.  
“Yeah, but against Shinji, Nanahara _and_ Sugimura? Dream on!” Keita rebutted, before quickly adding. “And… me, of course. Hehe.”  
Yoshitoki and Yutaka glanced at each other.  
“Thanks for the confidence, dude,” Yutaka said with a low chuckle.  
Shinji raised his hand.  
“Actually, I think guys versus girls might be a little bit unfair for you,” he argued with a smirk, nodding to the girl’s side of the court. “I was going to suggest Utsumi, Kanai and Matsui join my team, and we’ll send some of the boys over to yours. Sound good?” he said, casually.  
Haruka squinted. “Is this related to how you volunteered to play _skins_?” she asked, expecting the worst from a player like him.  
Shinji shrugged. “The rules are the rules,” he said simply, with a small nod.  
Haruka huffed.  
“No, thank you. We’ll take our chances. Right, girls?” she said with confidence. Yukie raised her fist, nodding eagerly.  
“Oh, you boys are going down. Prepare yourselves!” she agreed with Haruka. Izumi, Chisato and Noriko looked somewhat more uncertain in their potential success, but mumbled some unenthusiastic “Yes, watch out…” anyway. Satomi had stopped pretending to care, and was content with reading a book in the comforting shade cast by a tree nearby.

“With how well Nanahara-kun taught me the tricks before, you might actually be in some trouble,” Noriko called out playfully.  
Yoshitoki nudged Shuya and whispered: “Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Utsumi or Tanizawa to be her coach? Since they’re her friends and actually, you know, play volleyball…” he whispered, feeling a tad jealous. Shuya smiled sheepishly.  
“Man. I didn’t even think of that…”  
Keita was unaware of the drama around him, doing some stretches, making sure he had his butt turned towards Yuka in order to entice her. Judging by her giggling (more like roaring laughter), it was working. _Nice._

The game proceeded somewhat as expected. The ball hit Izumi after the first five minutes and she sighed dramatically.  
“Oh, I suppose I’m out! Oh noo,” she said, moving to the side to sit down on the sand. Haruka frowned.  
“This isn’t dodgeball,” she argued with a light huff, but Yukie just laughed.  
“Let her,” she said with a shrug. Leaning closer to Haruka, she whispered. “If anything, this might _increase_ our chances.”  
Chisato and Noriko did put in some level of effort, but they both seemed very distracted. _Totally makes sense,_ Keita thought. _All of us are shirtless soo… Can’t resist the Kei Kei-man.  
_Despite his own less than mediocre skills, he remained motivated. The all or nothing ice cream play was a big drive, and he kept pointing at Yuka throughout the game, hoping to seem intimidating. She would meet his eyes and laugh, mimicking how she would spoon up scoops of ice creams once she had beaten him.

Keita’s motivation lasted for about fifteen minutes. Out of breath, he had joined Izumi in the sand, panting. Usually, his cardio simply consisted of running away from his problems, so this amount of activity was uncharted territory. After another thirty minutes, most of the others were starting to give up as well.  
Yutaka and Yoshitoki joined the two sitting down, with Yutaka trying to casually sit as close to Izumi as he could. Keita, oblivious, patted his back.  
“You don’t wanna sit close to me, dude?!” he asked with a grin, causing Yutaka to blush and mumble something under his breath.  
Not long after, Chisato and Noriko also called it quits, but they sat down closer to the homemade court, trying (and failing) to appear _not_ to be checking out the shirtless boys left on the field.

As the game was getting closer to the one hour mark, Izumi glanced at her watch.  
“I have to make my violin lesson by six. How long can this go on?” she sighed, as neither Yukie and Haruka nor Shinji and Shuya seemed close to giving up.  
“I swear I’ve seen Rep stare at a first grader for an hour to pick up their chocolate wrapping paper from the ground. We could totally be here a while,” Yutaka joked, resting his chin on his hand.   
Haruka overheard them and did a little wave.  
“We’re playing for one hour! Just five more minutes. You can time us, Izu!” she called out, noticing the other, less competitive friends becoming impatient.

“Ah, damn. Come on, Shinji. Don’t let me down!” Keita cried out, praying for his mint chocolate chip ice cream. It was Shinji’s turn to serve, and he glanced at Keita, before throwing a light ball. Yukie easily served it back, scoring the final point without much effort.  
“Oh no,” Shinji said dryly. “What a shame. Anyone up for a swim?”  
Keita sighed dramatically.  
“Noooo! Why?!” He did not see how the Third Man could have failed like that.  
“Too bad, Iijima,” Yuka beamed, making her way over and throwing the volleyball lightly onto his head, bouncing off onto the sand. “Not your lucky day, is it?!”  
Keita shook his head, picking up the ball that had fallen down onto the sand next to him.  
“I know! Unless we can make a _new_ deal…” he said thoughtfully, tossing the ball up and down in his hands absent-mindedly.  
Yuka raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening…” she said, intrigued.  
Yoshitoki, who was watching the scene, laughed shortly. “You know, I’m mostly surprised this ball didn’t end up in someone’s fac-“  
“I got it!” Keita called out, throwing the ball over his shoulder and straight into Yutaka’s face, disturbing the boy in the middle of attempting to ask Izumi about her plans tomorrow.  
“God’s sake, Keita!” he groaned, rubbing his nose.  
Yoshitoki nodded slowly. “Yeah. There it is,” he mumbled.

Keita was no longer paying attention. He had jumped up, looking around the beach. For what, no one even dared to guess.  
“Hold on, Nakagawa. We’re going on a _treasure hunt_ ,” he said vaguely, before running off towards a group of strangers. His remaining friends blinked as he disappeared.  
“Huh. That actually sounds fun,” Yoshitoki said, surprised.  
Yuka nodded, surprised too. “Yeah, but how will he make this happen? Is he going to bury something and then make me race him to find it? Sounds fair,” she laughed.

“He seems to be talking to those people over ther- Oh. Nevermind. He’s just creeping around them,” Yoshitoki commented, as Keita was moving amongst around the other group. After a few moments, Keita moved on to a different group, tapping someone’s shoulder.  
“What is he up to?” Yutaka asked, fascinated. It was only him, Yoshitoki and Yuka watching Keita’s antics now. Izumi had given up and laid down on her towel, enjoying the sunrays. Noriko, Yukie and Chisato were laying out a blanket for their picnic, preparing the variations of snacks and light food they had brought with them. Hiroki and Haruka had joined Satomi in the shade, where Hiroki seemed to have realized Satomi was reading a Chinese novel, and he seemed interested in the language.

Shuya and Shinji strolled over to the group, as they waited for the other girls to et up the picnic.  
“What’s up? Where’s Iijima?” Shuya asked, glancing around.  
“Don’t tell me. The Kraken got him. I’m heartbroken,” Shinji deadpanned, looking out over the sea.  
“No, no. He’s just planning a little treasure hunt. We think. He might be over it and onto something else now,” Yutaka replied with a laugh, as Keita ran towards them again.

“Nakagawa! We gotta close our eyes and turn around. Or, you know, one of the two. I got those kids over there to hide the treasure for us,” Keita beamed. Yuka’s eyes lit up.  
“Really? That’s so fun! Okay, I’m down,” she agreed, nodding eagerly.  
Yoshitoki stood up too. “A treasure hunt! That’s actually pre-“  
“- Yeah, sorry, Nobu. It’s kinda me and Nakagawa doing this. Maybe next time,” Keita interrupted, not realizing how rude t sounded. Yoshitoki huffed, as Shuya just laughed and shook his head to him.

After a moment, the kids approached Keita with a big smile. They must have been at least five youngers than the groups, so they probably felt like being part of a treasure hunt set-up was really fun.  
“We did it! You’ll never find it now!” one of them said proudly.  
Keita’s eyes widened. “Woah. I hope we do. Or else, there’s no ice cream for me,” he said dramatically.  
Now, the kids’ eyes widened too. “There’s ice cream?!” the both of them exclaimed at the same time.  
“Eeeh. No. Not for you,” Keita coughed. “Okay, Nakagawa. Let’s go. Good luck!” he said, waving to her before sprinting onto the grass path away from the beach.  
“Wait! Iijima! What are we even looking for?!” Yuka called out after him, before following him.

As they both ran off, the kids glanced at each other.  
“We didn’t tell him we buried your mom’s earrings. Do you think he’ll know?” one of them asked quietly. The other just shrugged.  
“Sure?” he responded, not sounding too certain.  
Shuya and Yoshitoki gave each other a look of uncertainty too, worrying that someone’s mother would end up reporting Keita for theft or something if he did end up finding the earrings.

Yuka had quickly caught up to Keita, as they searched around a nearby picnic area on a green patch near the beach. If they walked any further, they would get to a small parking lot, but they doubted the kids had made it too far in the amount of time they spent hiding whatever they hid.  
“If we’re looking together, how do we know who won?” Yuka asked, as she bent down to search under a wooden bench.  
Keita, halfway up a tree to search amongst the branches, thought about it for a second. “I mean… whoever grabs it first, I guess?”  
“And… What is the _it_ we’re looking for?” Yuka asked again, laughing at the absurdity of this challenge.  
Coming back down to the ground, Keita shrugged. “Hey. It’s a treasure! We’ll know when we see it!” he insisted.

Yuka’s face lit up and she grabbed something off the ground.  
“Do you think this is it?!” she asked, holding up a dirty she had found laying around the grass.  
Keita squinted. “Looks more like evidence from a crime scene or something. We should wipe it for your fingerprints,” he said seriously, which made Yuka laugh loudly.  
_Oh, she thinks I’m joking. Okay, I’ll run with that._  
Keita got the sandal out of her grip, wiping it against his swimming trunks before throwing it towards the parking lot.  
“No one will know!” he said dramatically.  
Yuka nodded, but added with a grin: “Now, it’ll be your fingerprints. So thanks for saving my butt,” he chuckled.  
_Oh. Dammit_ , Keita thought, clicking his tongue.

That’s when he spotted it. An unmistaken treasure.  
“Gotcha!” he exclaimed, making his way past Yuka and towards the parking lot, where he had seen the recognizable red shine of a fresh can of coke, sitting by the pavement.  
As he headed towards it, Yuka spotted it too, gasping.  
“Oh no, you don’t! The treasure is mine!” she cried out, following him at full speed. Thanks to her being sporty and Keita being… Well, _not_ , she again caught up to him, using her foot to trip him. Falling over, Keita saw his life flash by in slow motion. _His mother singing him lullabies… His first taste of pizza… The day he met Shinji… The alpaca spitting in his face…  
_Horrified, he had to watch Yuka reach the coke first, snatching it up from the ground and holding it up in victory.  
“Oh yeah! The treasure is all mine!” she said joyfully. Looking at the coke, she could see it was opened already and felt half-empty, which disappointed her. “Too bad this treasure is tainted…”  
Keita frowned. “Is it empty?” he asked.  
Yuka shook her head in response. “No, it’s like, half-full… Still…”  
“Hey. I’ll have it,” Keita said, getting up and brushing some dirt off his shorts, before walking over and reaching out for the coke. Yuka looked half-disgusted, half-amused, as she handed it to him.  
“Okay, weirdo. Good luck with your new diseases,” she teased.

Heading back, they had not gotten further away from their group than a five minute walk. The others had all gathered around the food now, and the girls immediately called out for Yuka as they saw she was back. Yuka waved back to them, but she had stopped walking. Instead, she turned to Keita, who was still happily drinking his luke-warm coke.   
“You know, Iijima,” Yuka said, pausing for a moment. “Let’s just pay for our own ice cream. It doesn’t really matter who’s getting it, right? We did sorta solve the treasure hunt together. I think part of the fun will just be… going together,” she said, with a small smile.  
Keita felt his heart beat faster, blushing slightly as he grinned. “Yeah?”  
Yuka immediately burst out laughing.  
“ _No!_ Nerd! You’re paying, duuh. Man, I can’t believe you fell for that!” she kept laughing, patting his back.  
Huffing, Keita crossed his arms, but had to crack a smile too. “Fine, fine. It’s on me.”  
Walking quietly for a moment, he frowned, suddenly realizing a problem with this as he turned to her.  
“Eh. Nakagawa?”  
“Yes?” Yuka replied, looking over at him.  
“Can I borrow like... 1000 yen?”


End file.
